The Knuckle: A Mad World
by GameJunkie7
Summary: Part 4. He was taken by surprise and forced to escape. Seeing as he has time Knuckle decides that he should spend it on another adventure or two before rejoining Naruto. He enters a world almost exactly like his own but is it? He will soon see.


_**The Knuckle: **__**A Mad World**_

Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this story save for Nick/Knuckle because he's me.

Knuckle rematerialized in his throne room. "Damn it! They got the better of me…I had to leave my armor and Nidai Kagi there too…oh well…I know everything should be fine for a few years at least…but what should I do to pass the time?" Knuckle snapped his fingers before going down to the entrance and made another dark mirror next to Tellius and he looked carefully at it…it was his world! Or at least another dimension's version of it.

"Well shit…will this take me home or an alternate universe?" Knuckle thought about it after he put on some clothes and he decided to throw caution to the wind. "Aw fuck it I'll see when I get there and label the portal when I get back." Knuckle jumped into the portal and…he was falling from the sky.

"Fuck I forgot again! Oh well I didn't know where to set it anyway…maybe this is why I've gotten over my fear of heights and falling but why am I still afraid of flying? Regardless I forgot my armor and I'm falling to my death over the South China Sea…wait…the portal always seems to drop me over an important location…what game or show was based in the South China Sea?"

As Knuckle pondered this his robes transformed into a black trenchcoat complete with black combat boots and special gloves all made of dark matter kevlar and he hit the water hard so he fell through to the bottom which was surprisingly shallow and he stayed there for a short moment before he swam up.

"Bwah! Whew! How'd I survive that!" Knuckle reached up and grabbed the end of the dock, wriggled up and stayed on the edge gasping for air. "Oh god…that's the last time I'm going skydiving I swear!" Knuckle sat up and looked around. "This place…seems familiar." Suddenly a bullet hit next to Knuckle's feet but he didn't flinch and he looked at the assailant to see…Revy!

"Hey fuckhead! What're doing on our dock!" She stomped up to him and put one of her 9mm custom Berretta "Cutlass" pistols to Knuckle's head. "Fuck what does it matter I'll just kill you!"

"Revy! What're you doing?" Dutch walked down the dock with Benny carrying some computer equipment. "Who's this?"

"That's what I want to know! I found him sitting here like a drowned rat!" She pressed the gun against Knuckle's cheek and he grabbed the pistol with his right hand, yanked it out of her hand, spun it around and had it aimed at her. "Shit!" She had her other Cutlass aimed back at him and Knuckle smiled.

"You really need to control your temper! One of these days you're going to die because of it!" Knuckle rushed forward as he got up and punched Revy hard in the stomach with a left hook and she doubled over slightly but Dutch quickly got behind him and put him in a Half Nelson and was holding his right arm; something he could do since both he and Dutch were large men.

"Wow you're grappling techniques are good! I mean they better be to keep a loose cannon like her under control right?"

Revy shot Knuckle in the chest 3 times which knocked the wind out of him. "You don't know the half of it." Knuckle got his breath back and chuckled before he forced his way out of the grapple and grabbed Dutch's shirt before tossing him into Revy.

"Sorry but you really need to gauge your opponent before you attack. I mean seriously is this any way to treat a guy who jumped out of a plane at over 50,000 feet, crashed into the South China Sea and finally managed to swim all the way to this place? I mean come on I need a rest!" Revy was about to shoot him in the head but Dutch grappled her.

"So you survived all that? What's your name?" Knuckle reached into his pockets and found cool yellow visor shades and put them on (Imagine Kamina only in a trench coat with brown hair).

"The name's Nicholas Tombs Flora! I prefer to be called Knuckle though since people tend to call me a knucklehead for my bullheaded stunts like I just told you about the whole plane and falling into the sea thing." Dutch laughed and let Revy go who seemed to have calmed down before he walked over.

"Name's Dutch. I prefer to keep my history a secret as does everyone but I'm the boss of the Lagoon Company. We're basically a shipping business who sometimes gets a little rough with the law to put food on the table." Knuckle chuckled and shook Dutch's hand.

"Sounds like fun! Mind if I join? I kinda need a new job…last one was such a dead end I had to jump out of the plane!" They laughed a little and Knuckle handed the Cutlass back to Revy. "Sorry about that but I'm not the kind of guy to let someone kill me…like that plane deal I was cornered and I had a chute so I figured it was either run or die…I chose run." Revy smiled and got on the boat.

"Well come on newbie! We've already got a job; that's why we're out here anyway!" Knuckle laughed and got on the boat…he always wanted to be on a real boat!

(Aboard a commandeered vessel east of Roanapur)

Dutch punched Rokuro again. "Again Mr. Japanese: we're asking if the information that you were carrying is all on this disk."

"Y-yes…that's the disk I was told to deliver to the client…." Knuckle was surprised…he was inserted just before the main plot just like before! Here was Rock…he would have to make sure the salaryman became a real crook.

"Well then we'll be leaving." Dutch walked over to the group of people cowering in the shade of the bridge. "Listen our business is done here. If you don't want to die keep this boat perfectly still for 30 minutes. You see our boat? Those are torpedoes. If you try to come after us you'll be sinking to the bottom of the ocean."

Dutch made the gesture and Knuckle got back on the Black Lagoon and as he knew she would Revy grabbed Rock with the intention of ransoming him back to his company and pretty soon they were on the boat, Revy got pissed and shot at Rock whom was lucky enough that all the bullets missed.

"Hey Revy I'm new and all but give the guy a break I mean we did just kidnap him and he's just a normal civilian…he isn't like the kind of people you usually deal with right?" Dutch nodded and let Revy out of his grapple.

"He's right you know Revy. Come on up Mr. Japanese and have a smoke." Dutch helped Rock up and they got on the deck of the Black Lagoon.

"So Revy…got any guns I can use? I mean I don't have any on me currently." Revy was still pissed but she stomped down the hall and Knuckle followed her to a storeroom loaded with secured weapons and boxes of ammo.

"Take what you want…after all it's defining what weapon you prefer." Revy got a smile and leaned on the door frame to watch what Knuckle chose and he browsed through the selection.

"Hm…pistols are always good: quick, cheaper than most and serves the purpose to kill something…good for a primary weapon in most situations." Knuckle took off his trenchcoat and got two gun holsters like Revy's and put simple normal Berretta 9mm pistols in them and then put his trenchcoat back on which perfectly concealed them.

"Now then let's see about the rest of my arsenal." Revy got interested at this point and she was glad he chose pistols but then he grabbed a MAC10 micro-machinegun pistol. "An M10, good for room sweeping." Knuckle put it inside a securing pouch on the left side of the inside of his coat and he continued searching.

"A Remington 11-87 with a 14in barrel. Good god I love shotguns and this thing's a beauty!" Knuckle put it in a long pocket with a securing belt on the inside of his coat on the right side. "Now then…ammo time."

Knuckle loaded himself up with at least 4 reload magazines for each gun. "Whew that was a careful decision process…now then I wouldn't mind holding some rifles to get a feel but I'd only use them as situational weapons."

"Damn you're loaded down with enough ordinance to be a damn strike squad! I'll go tell Benny about this and see about ransoming that Japanese guy." Revy then walked away but poked her head in. "Um…what race are you? I mean Dutch is black, I'm Chinese, Benny's American and our hostage is Japanese but what race do you belong to?"

"Uh…well I'm a blend as you can guess but I'm mostly Scottish and French with Italian composing the rest." Revy then got a funny look on her face.

"Well that explains a lot." She then left down the hall.

"Wait what do you mean by that!" Knuckle ignored it and decided to go topside.

(Black Lagoon dock)

"Well we're back in Roanapur! Hey Rock want to come along?" Knuckle heard Rock's name and decided to call him that since Dutch was going to anyway.

"Um…aren't I a hostage?"

"We're leaving without you."

"W-wait I'm coming!" Rock caught up and Benny quickly realized that not everyone would fit in the car.

"Don't worry I'll ride on the roof. Car surfing's supposed to be fun I hear." Knuckle got on the roof, sat down and pretended to meditate and everyone looked at him funny. "What can't I make a joke?" They all snickered, got in the car and drove to the Yellow Flag where Knuckle made a point to drink scotch.

"So Knuckle you mean you seriously love to drink?" Revy was drinking rum.

"Yep it's pretty much the best reason to live." Revy got that funny look on her face.

"Oh I wonder why." Knuckle started shouting incoherencies in different languages before he became legible again.

"It's not because I'm Scottish, Italian and French you Chinese rum fish!" She laughed and challenged Rock to a drinking contest which was fun watching them go at it until…EO started spraying bullets through the front of the building so Knuckle grabbed Rock and Benny as he jumped over the bar and Revy jumped behind the bar herself; Dutch was elsewhere.

"Tch…this kind of ordinance…has to be some mercenaries your company sent to kill us for the disk huh Rock?"

"Most likely! Knuckle cover me!" Knuckle grabbed Revy and had a sadistic smile.

"Wait…let them come in." Knuckle fished around in his zipper pocket and took out a grenade. "I'll give them a little fireworks and then you can clean up." Revy smiled and nodded at the plan. They waited until they heard some guys come in and start killing survivors.

"Eat this shitheads!" Knuckle tossed the grenade over the bar causing them to scatter but it killed over half of them and then Revy got to massacring them.

"He, he, he! This never gets old! Hey Rock you better steel those nerves of yours 'cause I'm dragging you with us!" Knuckle grabbed Rock and ran for the rear exit where Dutch was supplying Revy covering fire and Knuckle kicked down the back door before whipping out his M10 and killing the 3 guys outside in a spray of bullets as Benny went to retrieve the car.

"Everyone get in! Knuckle get on the roof and hold on!" Knuckle jumped on the roof and grabbed onto the window openings as everyone jumped in then they drove off to the boat which they quickly boarded and drove out to sea towards Balalaika's meeting point but a few hours later Rock got the horrible news that his employers have labeled him dead and sent EO after them with a gunship.

"A gunship? I've always wanted to shoot one of those down! Do we have any thermal tracking missile launchers to use on it?" Revy and Dutch both glared at Knuckle for his simple thinking. "I'll…take that as a no…but do we have ANY anti-vehicular weaponry on board?" Dutch nodded.

"We have an anti-tank rifle and RPG launcher but the rifle won't be able to pierce the armor on that thing and the RPG wouldn't be able to hit such a fast target." Knuckle thought it over before asking an important question.

"Do we have any shaped-charge rounds for that rifle?" Dutch looked thoughtful before shaking his head. "Damn that would've taken it down for sure then…I'll be in the armory if you need me." After the depressing news he went to hang out in the storage room and take inventory.

He then saw a broken M203 grenade launcher attachment and decided to work his magic on it so he focused as hard as he could as he took parts from broken weapons and started to make a custom gun. After a little bit apparently the gunship started making its runs but Knuckle was too busy and focused to be bothered and nobody bothered to ask him to do anything. After they entered the river and stopped Revy came into the room.

"Hey asshole you were so excited about shooting at that gunship but here you are! What're you doing!" She shut up when he pulled out a rebuilt BAR.

"I just made it! I was inspired by all the broken parts and I made this beauty! She's basically a full bore BAR loaded with armor piercing .303 rounds with extended box magazine that holds up to 50 rounds."

"I fixed the busted M203 Grenade Launcher and integrated it into the handle and I happen to have found 1 40mm grenade round! If we can get close enough to that gunship…I'll be able to take it down!" Revy looked at the weapon in awe and grabbed it. "Hey be careful with that I just made it!"

"Perfect! Let's go tell Dutch and you get to use it!" She gave the BAR M203 back to Knuckle and he hurried with her to where Dutch and Rock were. "Guys! Let's go with Rock's plan only we won't have to gamble on the torpedoes! Knuckle here made an improvised BAR M203 out of broken parts! He says if we can get close enough he can load it down with a hard hit!"

"That's brilliant! Much safer bet then firing the torpedoes! Alright Knuckle get up and brace yourself on the hatch! We're going!" Dutch turned the boat around and Rock and Revy got ready too with the flare gun and anti-tank rifle respectively. Rock fooled the missiles with the flare and Revy let off a few shots.

"Guys get inside! I need to be alone for this!" They both got inside and Knuckle got an insane look in his eyes as they got near the dead boat they were going to use as a ramp and he held the trigger and fired all 50 rounds at the gunship and right as they hit the ramp he switched to the M203 and fired it at the top of the gunship and it blew the motor apart.

"YEAH YOU GOT FUCKED SHITHEADS!" They hit the water as the blasted to hell gunship crashed into the sand and Knuckle flew forward blacked out on the deck.

(Balalaika's Meeting Point)

Knuckle woke up with a massive headache and he got up to find he was on solid ground and Rock had just made his life decision to quit being a salaryman. "Ow…so…is my BAR M203 still with us?"

Revy smiled as she pulled it from behind the cement wall and tossed it to Knuckle who proceeded to cuddle it. "Enjoy Knuckle. So Rock…want to become a pirate?"

Rock joined the crew and Knuckle ended up becoming the weapons guy since he kept several different weapons on him at all times and he could fix and make them using his magic in secret to help and he even learned how to make ammo using his magic but he kept this a secret and ended up managing and improving the Lagoon Company's weapon arsenal.

He secretly made their ammo himself thus cutting a huge expense from the company's budget and the bullets were honestly even better than normal ones because they were made with Dark Matter so Knuckle got to tinkering on special projects alone and often shut himself in his room but today he was bored since he hit a roadblock in improving the BAR M203's range and he was laying on the couch while everyone sat around bored.

"…Hey…Dutch."

"Hm? Yeah Knuckle?" Knuckle let a long pause pass.

"Can I install a small anti-aircraft gun on the Lagoon?" A short pause passed. "Can I? It would improve the Lagoon's vehicular combat rating and we wouldn't have issues with helicopters or gunships again."

"…Only if it doesn't decrease the Lagoon's top speed too much and it doesn't cost too much." Knuckle groaned.

"Boss you know me…I can do this so below budget it would practically be free…I'd be using my own money."

"Then yes if it's your own money." Knuckle jumped up full of energy.

"Alright let's go arm the Lagoon!" Knuckle rushed out of the apartment and Revy raised an eyebrow.

"How does he do it anyway? I mean get us so much ammo on his pay alone and buy guns for himself?" Dutch shrugged his shoulders and got up to leave as Rock entered with some sort of disgustingly bitter fruit.

(Lagoon Dock)

Knuckle already had plans to arm the Lagoon with AA capable guns and using his ability to create gold and silver he pawned at just about every pawn shop in Roanapur to get the money to buy two .50 Cal M2 Browning Machineguns from the Church of Violence and a portable lightweight quickset small AA gun rotating/elevating seated turret that he would install on the deck of the Lagoon to effectively outfit it with a "Twin 50s" Anti-Vehicular turret.

"Oh god I'm so psyched about this I might jizz my pants!" Knuckle hyperventilated for a moment before he got to work spray painting the stand the same neutral steel grey the Lagoon was and then he made sure the portable generator/battery (weatherproof thank god) wasn't rigged to blow or anything like that. "Good to see Sister Yolanda didn't completely rip me off."

Knuckle then put it towards the bow of the boat and he knew it elevated high enough when on to not hit the torpedo launchers or cabin even when shooting to the sides and back. Knuckle got to welding it firmly in place and used the rivet gun to mount it at the specified bolt locations for further stability. He then put a box or belt fed .50 Cal into each of the two slots and they fit perfectly.

He fastened them securely and welded an ammo box on each side to hold reloads and filled them with 3 boxes of .50 armor piercing bullets each and then put a box on each gun, sat in the small turret, turned it on and it elevated above the launchers and cabin which was hardly the height of an average person and rotated a full 360 degrees using the foot pedals and moved the guns up and down manually since it was a cheaper model after all but were easy to move.

"Yes! A fully functioning AA turret!" Knuckle powered it down, got out and started dancing. "Oh yeah! Fuck yeah! This turret will rip any economy class and some military class ships to fuck!" Knuckle kept dancing until the rest of the crew came running down.

"Knuckle! We've got another job!" They stopped for an instant to see the cheap but effective turret Knuckle installed. "Wow…you just made my girl that much deadlier, but I want you to work on making the torpedo launchers lower so they're not too much of a threat of hitting them. Anyway we're leaving!"

Dutch and the others got inside but Knuckle got in the turret and relaxed having a feeling that something fun was going to happen.

The Lagoon took off out of the bay like a rocket and Dutch's voice came on over the speaker. "Hey Knuckle it looks like your new toy hasn't decreased the Lagoon's speed at all! Good job!" Knuckle wasn't stupid; the turret wasn't only cheap and small it was also aerodynamic and he modified that too. "Hold on…we've got company…not that I'm surprised. Knuckle how about you give that new toy of yours a test run?"

Knuckle turned on the turret and got ready. "Turn this baby around Dutch! I can only shoot over the sides and the front accurately!" Dutch turned the Lagoon around and Knuckle fired quick accurate bursts of bullets at the 6 oncoming ships and before he emptied the first boxes of ammo they were all sunk. "Sorry there Revy! Looks like I took your fun!"

Revy exited the boat and came up to the turret. "Feh you can have your turret. I prefer up close and personal…besides wouldn't it work better belt fed?"

"Yeah maybe but that'll come later; this was just what was working when we got the fake job." Knuckle relaxed in the seat of his new toy as they headed back to Roanapur.

(Lagoon Company Apartments)

It was back to boring smooth jobs again for a while. Knuckle finally finished his BAR M203 which he nicknamed Bane and had modified his other weapons too.

His pistols were now practically copies of Revy's which she praised him for only they were black and named the Twins.

The M10 was outfitted with a suppresser barrel so it was as accurate as a pistol, quiet and he fine tuned it and nicknamed it Hash.

Finally the Remington 11-87. He had to do very little to improve it since it was already perfect for him but he removed the stock and replaced it with a custom basket guard/cuff since he could wield it one-handed but he also got a speedloader for it and he named it Shatter. Once again Knuckle was lying on the couch. "I am so happy we've got so much shit now but…I'm bored again!"

"Oh relax Knuckle we'll get another exciting job soon you'll see." Benny was messing with a computer game since with Knuckle helping with the mechanics of the Black Lagoon he had less work to do.

"Easy for you to say…you find enjoyment from sitting there playing games…I used to be that way until it got monumentally boring." Benny laughed as Revy walked in and sat on Knuckle's legs which he didn't really care about.

"I'm so bored!" Revy wriggled her butt between Knuckle's legs to get comfortable.

"I know right? It's like nothing exciting's been happening lately…I just feel like going out and randomly murdering someone." Revy nodded and Benny got a worried look on his face.

"Um you two better not I mean this city has been relatively peaceful lately and you wouldn't want to stir the hive would you?" Knuckle and Revy both got sadistic looks on their faces.

"That's what you think." Revy pulled out a Cutlass and twirled it.

"I'd love to open up a can of worms and make this city writhe with activity again…." As Revy and Knuckle both pondered on how to stir shit up in the city without ruining any relations with anyone Rock came in with boxes of preserves for the boat.

"What's going on? You two look like you're bored to hell." They both looked at Rock with a "no duh" look on their faces.

"Well you won't be so bored pretty soon!" Dutch came in with 3 sets of scuba gear. "I saw you eyeing these at the docks Rock and besides that…we have a new job."

Dutch and Benny explained Operation: Fuck the Nazi U-Boat which literally required Revy and Rock to dive down and enter the ship through a rear torpedo tube. "Wait why can't I go in! I mean there's a third set of scuba gear!"

"Well that's the thing. That may be the case but you're too big to fit through the torpedo tube." Benny was being serious but Knuckle blushed as Revy laughed.

"Knuckle's too big a dick to fit through the sub's tiny asshole." Knuckle blushed more and stormed out to the boat. "Hey I didn't mean to offend him too…wait is his dick really that big?"

"Anyway back on topic…Knuckle me and Dutch will stay on the boat and monitor you via beacons but once you enter the sub we won't be able to know where you are until you exit since the sub's hull will block transmissions."

They went through the rest of the briefing and went to the Lagoon to find Knuckle sitting in his turret with Bane which he modified into being more accurate and outfitted with a combo scope/leaf sight. "Hey Knuckle don't be so glum…you can protect the boat if anything goes wrong."

Knuckle smiled since he knew something would go wrong and he relaxed as Rock and Revy got prepped and then when they got to the site Rock dove first but Knuckle stopped Revy with a shout.

"Hey Revy! Bring me back some souvenirs like some Luger pistols and Karabiner rifles ok?" Revy gave a thumbs up before diving in. "German weapons may be outdated but they're known for their dependability…also I might sell them for at least a decent price to collectors." Knuckle knew they might not get back with anything but it was worth a try. After waiting for a bit a research vessel approached so Knuckle turned on the turret and aimed in the direction of the ship.

"Benny put up the Thai Navy flag." Dutch had Benny put up the flag and the other ship requested communication so Dutch answered. "This is PT 377 of the Thai Navy. You have no authorization to be here; state your business."

"This area of sea is disputed. You are acting independently. State your boat's location."

"That is military information; we are not required to answer now we repeat: state your business and give us your vessel's registration code." They didn't answer back. "I've got a bad feeling about this…Benny come inside with me, Knuckle use your scope to see what's going on."

Knuckle knew what was going to happen but he wanted to be serious about his job so he picked up Bane and looked through the scope at the ship and saw them setting up 3 weapons which he identified immediately. "They've got 3 TOWs and they're about to fire!"

"Shit! Knuckle shoot those thing's down when they fire!" Knuckle put Bane down and got ready as Dutch turned the Lagoon around and the enemy fired 3 TOWs at them but Knuckle accurately fired bursts at each one which downed them and Dutch continued to move until they were out of Benny's calculated range.

"Good shooting Knuckle! Guess it's a good thing you installed that turret." Knuckle smiled happily since he loved being praised.

"Still though my Twin 50s don't have the distance to have enough power to damage that damned ship from here…aircraft maybe but not a ship." Knuckle turned off the turret in sadness since it was the first time in a while he actually got to use it.

"Oh well…even so if I could do that sinking that thing would only seriously endanger Rock and Revy since they're right over the sub now…."

They waited patiently and nervously and things proceeded as Knuckle figured they would. After a while they fished Rock and Revy out of the water and Revy had that psychotically sad look to her face as she handed him a huge sack that Rock was carrying.

"It's loaded with Iron Crosses, a sword, several Lugers and a few Karabiners as you can see by what's poking out." She dropped it on the deck and went inside.

"…Thanks…I'll sell the guns well!" This statement slightly cheered Revy up but he could tell she was going the way of Whitman for a while. "*sigh* Dutch I'm going with you to kill the Nazis…they made me waste ammo on missiles…I didn't get to kill anything with those bullets…." Dutch nodded and after tailing the Nazi boat for a while Dutch, Knuckle and Revy all got in the dinghy and drove up undetected.

"Alright then. Knuckle and Revy I want you two to start some serious shit. Kill all the Nazis on board." Knuckle and Revy nodded and Knuckle tossed the grappling hook up and it caught onto a railing and they climbed up it onto the boat. When the first drunken Nazi saw the hook Revy shot him.

"Ok then Revy you go through the lower levels for the majority of the swine, Knuckle you take the middle of the ship and I'll go right to the chief." They both nodded and Knuckle ran to a higher level while Revy started the slow massacre down below.

Knuckle hit a jackpot as he slaughtered the Nazi's in their cabins with his Hash and Shatter and was cleaning up with a sadistic smile on his face as his gleeful eyes stared through his yellow visor. "Oh god I've got jizz in my pants! You racist Nazi scum are making me so happy with your deaths!"

Knuckle continued to pwn everything as he continued on but then he hit the control bridge to find civilians and his expression turned to anger. "Damn it you fucking civilians! Jump overboard or something 'cause you're only in the way and you're killing my buzz!" They all ran off to the lifeboats.

Knuckle went through everywhere again to find nothing and met up with Revy and Dutch who had guns pointed at each other's heads. "Geez Revy can't you get over this already?" Knuckle took bane off his back and fired a grenade round into the nearby room filled with Nazis. "Now get over it Revy! We've got some racist bastards to off!"

Dutch looked at Knuckle with gratitude as Knuckle's presence seemed to calm Revy down. "Well I think I've killed just about everything up here…how about we go to the chief now and end this?"

Dutch and Revy nodded and as they headed on up a huge guy even taller than Knuckle crashed through a door and started bragging about his special Luger and said only he could use it and-Knuckle blasted his head off with Shatter and picked up the Luger.

"Thanks I'll sell it to a collector." They walked up and caught the guy on the phone with his employer which also happened to be their employer and after the conversation Revy gave him an empty Cutlass to see what he'd do with it.

"I say black."

"That's why it's not much of a bet I say black too."

"Well I say he goes through with it." Knuckle glared through his visor at the fool and he pulled the trigger on himself only for it to click. "Holy shit I won! 5 C-notes right?"

"Yeah you get 500 from both me and Revy…now to kill him." Dutch and Revy both shot the chief, took the painting and left for the Lagoon.

(Lagoon Company Apartments)

Knuckle was laying on the couch again since he'd already tinkered with a few more guns for Revy and he was imagining the possibilities to upgrading his weapons any further besides his new Desert Eagle which Sister Yolanda sold to him cheap…since it was practically broken anyway.

But he fixed it up quickly and he already found a spot for it in the holster pouch below the Hash but he hadn't upgraded it yet so he didn't name it so he simply called it Deagle which was slang for Desert Eagle. "So bored! This keeps happening!"

Dutch chuckled and Benny was busy on the computer when Rock came in bored himself and Dutch handed him the keys to Benny's car. "Here I need you to run some errands for me. And since Revy and Knuckle are so bored and are just laying around take them with you."

Knuckle actually got to sit in the car this time and he had the whole backseat so he was in the center taking up all the space he could. "Geez why do I have to go on these errands with you of all people! Knuckle I could stand but why you?"

"Look Dutch told me to go and said to take you two with me since you were bored to death. It's better than being stuck back at the apartment bored to tears isn't it?" They drove to a Pink House where a funky looking fella named Rowan "Jackpot" Pigeon ran an illegal S&M parlor and porn studio.

"Oh hello there Revy! Have you reconsidered my offer to be a dominatrix?" Revy scoffed.

"No Rowan we're here on real business. You know the drugs we shipped for you? Well here's the bill." She took it out of her pocket and handed it to Rowan.

"Oh dear the tax on these things has gone off the charts! It's just killing me! Oh and who're the two handsome men with you? Feel like helping my girl's feel better?" Both Rock and Knuckle shook their heads and they went to Balalaika to confirm some information and she was doing post production on some porn films she got from Rowan.

"Oh is that all you came here for? You could have just called you know?" She continuously went over the same part over and over and Rock looked away out of decency and Revy watched in interest while Knuckle was laughing.

"Whoa is she getting it up the ass?"

"Yep, right up the ass."

"Good god this defines the term up the ass ha, ha, ha!" After that they went to the Church of Violence which Knuckle forgot was next and when they got out of the car Knuckle decided to try and sneak away. "Uh I'll meet up with you guys later I have something to do."

"Oh no you don't!" Revy grabbed the collar of Knuckle's trenchcoat and dragged him along. "If I have to suffer through this then so do you!" Knuckle gave up and walked with them as they came up on Eda telling some workers to put cleaned items in a shed and when she saw Knuckle she ignored Revy completely.

"Oh well if it isn't our most handsome customer!" Eda took one of Knuckle's hands and held it to Rock's confusion and Revy's anger. "So what're you here to buy today? Another machine gun? RPG? What's your poison?"

Knuckle was sweating bullets and laughing nervously as Revy had fire in her eyes. "Hey…what gives…is this where you've been getting all your weapons and ammo?"

"Oh no he never buys ammo from us he says he has a secret supplier but he buys weapons from us like no tomorrow! And we always charge him properly!" Revy was going feral and Knuckle got behind Eda.

"H-hey I pay for it with my own money not the boss's or yours ok! I make plenty of cash on my side projects!" Revy huffed and stormed up. "Anyway Eda Dutch sent us here on a errand to see Sister Yolanda…."

"Oh…what a shame I thought you were going to be able to pay my drinking tab again tonight." Knuckle and Eda went inside and Knuckle sat on the same couch as Sister Yolanda since he was scared to sit with Revy right now but it might have made her angrier.

"Well it's always good to get a visit from Nicholas. He's such a good customer and I know he supplies most of the Lagoon Company's jobs with what he buys so really why are you here then Rebecca?" Revy sneered at the name but got to the point.

"Look Knuckle does supply us with most of what we need nowadays through you using his own money but we still get stuff from you directly and we've heard you're not going to give us the 6-shot grenade launcher that we ordered." Yolanda nodded.

"Yes well we have another client who said they needed it right away but…if Nicholas buys it right now then I'll gladly hand it over right away." Revy jumped up and pointed a gun at Eda and she copied.

"Look I understand that Knuckle's gun crazed as much as you but that doesn't mean you can milk him for his cash! He hardly ever eats anything unless Rock or Benny serve him food since he can't buy it himself! If this is how it is then we'll buy it from you from now on!" Knuckle stood up and aimed his new Deagle at Revy who was shocked.

"Revy…I do it because I care about the Lagoon Company and because it's my own decision…I appreciate the thought but I make enough money; it's just I hardly ever do have the time to eat and I prefer not to eat unless I need to…it's alright I'll buy the launcher ok?" Revy sighed defeated for the first time and Knuckle put away his Deagle.

"So you fixed the piece of junk Desert Eagle we sold you? That's Knuckle the Gun God for you." Everyone looked at Yolanda funny except Eda who smiled.

"You don't know? Ever since you got back from that mission where you slaughtered an entire ship of Neo-Nazis and you blathered on about how amazing Knuckle was and about how he could fix and make guns like a master weaponsmith word has spread around Roanapur and the criminal underworld like wildfire." Knuckle chuckled nervously and Revy blushed.

Rock then got on to conversing with Yolanda on their business deal and convinced her to sell it to Knuckle at a lower price and Knuckle then bought the launcher right then and he cradled it like a baby as they drove to an outdoor restaurant. "Man this Milkor MGL 6-shot semiautomatic 40mm grenade launcher with wooden stock and carbon-steel construction is beautiful!" Revy chuckled at Knuckle's glee and Rock gave a little snicker.

"Look; Knuckle since you've got your little toy to tinker with we'll head home now." Knuckle shook his head knowing what Revy and Rock were going to talk about was good for their relationship.

"No it's alright; let's keep going to the restaurant. I'll keep it hidden in my trenchcoat."

They nodded and continued to the restaurant and Rock got each of them their soup and Knuckle happily ate his soup while Rock and Revy had their fight and Rock successfully grabbed the gun and overpowered Revy and they continued the argument and Knuckle had finished his soup but Revy kicked the table and it flipped up and hit Knuckle and spilled soup all over him and Rock stopped arguing and Revy saw why.

"…Do…you know…how hard it is to clean Kevlar!" Knuckle jumped up and decked both of them in one punch with both arms at the same time and then picked them both up at the collar and looked them both in the face.

"Listen! Revy you're in the wrong here! You are mistreating Rock! Rock Revy is tormented with her feelings about how to deal with you what with you being such a different person than what she's dealt with her whole life!"

Knuckle then let go of them and sat back down in a chair as police chief Watsup came up and said he'd have to take them to the station. "I don't have to go right?" Watsup looked funny at Knuckle.

"He a friend of yours?" Revy nodded. "Then yes you have to come." Knuckle groaned hoping that since Watsup and his men were corrupt anyway they wouldn't steal his launcher.

(On the Lagoon)

Knuckle in his short time in the city had become infamous as Lagoon Company's weaponsmith nicknamed Gun God since his custom weapons usually outperformed or equaled normal weapons of similar model and Revy once drunkenly boasted at the Yellow Flag that he could easily match her in a fire fight just as Sister Yolanda told them.

They were doing another routine job; this time having to run a weapon shipment for the Colombian Manisarela Cartel. A shipment which the rest of the crew had to keep Knuckle from breaking open and tinkering with and he sat in his activated AA turret aimed at the Cartel's ship in a fit for not tinkering with new weapons and as a precautionary measure. "Hey Rock hurry up and get the exchange package!"

"I have to get them to sign for the shipment!" Knuckle grumbled and waited another minute and Rock came to the edge. "I've got the package!"

"Good then get down here. Have them lower you down on the crane." Dutch ordered Rock but told Knuckle to keep his turret on them just in case and then Knuckle saw Rock and…the Garcia kid come down.

"Damn…I'm excited about this turn of events." Knuckle kept his turret on the Cartel ship until they were out of range and he turned off the turret and relaxed knowing what was going on inside and enjoyed the warm breeze in his face until they got back to Roanapur where they treated Garcia like how they treated Rock.

"Don't worry I've got a new ride so you'll never have to ferry me again." Knuckle walked around the corner and pulled out a sweet 1990 1340cc Dyna Super-Glide and got on. "Let's go!" He rode behind them as they drove to the Yellow Flag where Knuckle knew…Roberta the Terminator-like woman was…he was dying to fight her.

Knuckle was excited as hell as he got ahead of the group and kicked down the doors to everyone's surprise and the action attracted the attention of the Cartel members.

Knuckle drew Shatter with his left and Deagle with his right and proceeded to quickly kill them off to everyone's surprise again including Revy who hadn't seen Knuckle like this since the Neo Nazi ship and when he finished he reloaded his guns and walked to the spot where the leader of the group once stood.

"Well, well, well…if it isn't the Bloodhound of Florence!" Roberta's eyes flashed open and she fired her disguised SPAS-12 Shotgun at Knuckle who dodged the shot which the rest of the group were lucky to have moved under a table already to be out of the way and Knuckle returned fire with Shatter and Deagle alternating and Roberta dodged them too. "Ha, ha, ha! You're just as fast and fierce as the rumors say!"

"Who are you! You fight similarly to me!" Roberta then used her machinegun disguised as a briefcase and fired repeatedly at Knuckle who dodged the shots to close in on Roberta and had Deagle aimed between her breasts to Roberta's surprise.

"Adios senorita!" Knuckle fired but she smacked his arm away which caused him to miss and they backed away from each other. "Maldita sea son buenas. No puedo creer que realmente me cerró el disparo desde tan cerca!"

"Usted está impresionante. El hecho de que incluso, de llegar tan cerca significa que está cualificada." Knuckle and Roberta were both speaking Spanish so only Rock and Garcia could fully understand what they were saying. "Your Spanish is very good for someone who so richly speaks English in this obscure corner of the world."

"Thanks it just happened…Spanish and Italian are very similar." Knuckle and Roberta were about to fight again when Garcia cried out that he didn't like this Roberta and she dropped her weapons in shock and the rest of the Lagoon Company took off with him and Roberta seemed disheartened.

"Well…what're you waiting for?" She looked at Knuckle strangely. "He's your master's son regardless of what he sees you as…you're doing this all for him. It would be a waste not to chase after him." Roberta smiled.

"Thank you kind sir…you're the closest person I've had to kinsmen besides the young master while I've been here…allow me to thank you." She curtsied and Knuckle knew what she was doing so he turned tail and ran out the front door as the grenades that dropped out of her skirt blew the Yellow Flag to hell and Knuckle was thrown by the blast force into Benny's car and he blacked out for a moment.

"Knuckle!"

"Rock leave him! We need to get out of here!" Benny stepped on the gas as Knuckle came to his senses and sat up.

"Ugh…some friends…but they did the smart thing." Roberta came up from behind and picked Knuckle up like a corpse, dragged him over to a car, she punched through the window and unlocked the door before putting Knuckle in the passenger seat then she got in the driver seat and stabbed the ignition, turned it forcing the car on and she gave chase after the rest of the Lagoon Company like he predicted.

Only this time when she grabbed Dutch and was pulling him out of Benny's car Knuckle pointed his Deagle at her forcing her to let go to knock him out and then after Dutch and Revy shot up the radiator until it overheated the engine she grabbed Knuckle, ran up to another car and did the same thing as before then drove off the highway onto a roof then off the roof and crashed into Benny's car; shooting a pistol on the recoil as Knuckle fell out of the car into the street like a ragdoll to the group's dismay.

Benny managed to start the car again as Roberta ran at the car and used a trench knife to dagger into the trunk at which point Knuckle woke up from all the physical trauma, unconsciously recognizing the scene he started running like Roberta despite his injuries and he managed to get to the site of the final battle just as Revy and Roberta were about to fight.

"Revy! Ella es mi presa! Mío! Me quieren matar!" Knuckle drew Hash and aimed it in Roberta's direction and fired a spray of bullets but they missed by a mile without her even flinching and Knuckle fell to his knees.

"…You're really impressive…but after all the injuries you've sustained you're not capable of fighting me. Vamos a luchar de nuevo más tarde." Roberta dismissed Knuckle, making him feel like crap and he collapsed falling completely unconscious.

Knuckle woke up later to the sound of a fistfight and forced his injured body to get up; he limped over to the scene to watch Revy and Roberta beating the living hell out of each other and Balalaika noticed Knuckle and walked over to him.

"I've heard about what happened…you sensed her didn't you?" Knuckle wearily nodded as he looked at Roberta with distain yet admiration in how she simply dismissed him and used those grenades on him before.

"You really wanted to test your skill against her…judging from how you could still move so well after sustaining such heavy injuries and several concussions I'd say you and that woman are very much alike…no wonder your desire to fight her was so great but Revy is very much the same."

Knuckle nodded but started to collapse again but Balalaika and a few of her men caught him and they dragged him over to a canister. "Geez you're like a damn jackass in the fields of Russia. No matter how much punishment you receive you keep moving on your own."

"He, he, he…I'll take that as a compliment…." Knuckle watched the fight until they both knocked each other out but Knuckle agreed with Garcia that Roberta won since she remained conscious and when Roberta asked him to get her fake glasses Knuckle interjected. "Roberta!"

She looked at him and she thought how ironic it was that they were both in a similar state. "Usted no necesita las gafas que se Roberta ... no eres la misma mujer que alguna vez fueron, con o sin ellos." The Russians all looked at Knuckle in surprise and Roberta and Garcia both smiled.

"Thank you…de mayo nos volvamos a encontrar." Garcia tossed the broken glasses then got into the car with Roberta and they left.

"Thank you Balalaika for solving this situation somewhat peacefully." All the members of Hotel Moscow laughed at the term peacefully.

"Well I wasn't about to let either of you die under a misunderstanding…also your abilities are to be credited…I may ask for your help in the future specifically Knuckle." They all started to leave and Balalaika said she'd pay for Knuckle's and Revy's hospital bills since they'd both be out of commission for a while.

(Lagoon Company Apartments)

It had been a while since the Loveless incident and both Revy and Knuckle were fully healed after only a week in the hospital and they were both once again bored as all hell until the US Embassy in Roanapur was bombed and they got an emergency job from Mr. Chang.

Knuckle had been anticipating meeting Mr. Chang for a while since his sense of clothing style was similar to Knuckle's and he even prepared decaf coffee with Irish creamer beforehand which Mr. Chang enjoyed. "So as you can see this is a serious matter and the contents of this briefcase must be brought to the CIA immediately!" Knuckle knew the terrorists were already outside and he took out Bane which the Triad guards responded by aiming at him as he opened the blinds and then the window.

"Hey fuckhead terrorists!" They all looked up as he fired a 40mm incendiary grenade from his M203 that lit them all on fire and he reloaded a normal round into the launcher and fired into the group again to kill some of the stragglers to Mr. Chang's impress.

"There…we won't have to fix any damage now…but I suggest we hurry up since more will be on their way when they learn I just blew their strike team to hell." Knuckle loaded another normal round into the M203 and proceeded to snipe the one's who were still twitching. "Ha, ha, ha! That one's still twitching!" *bam* "Not anymore!"

"Anyway yes I believe you should go. I have transportation arranged for you." They all rushed to the car. "And remember! The password is: The Triad Are Super Cool!" He said it overly loud so both Knuckle and Revy knew it was a hint and they got to the Black Lagoon very quickly thanks to the escort's speed and when they did they immediately sped off towards the location specified by Chang.

"Ok then. Even though Chang sent out decoys there's no way they haven't been tracking us so we'll have to send you 3 in the dinghy." Knuckle, Rock and Revy got into the dinghy and drove through the night until they docked at a small pier.

"What is this place? Where're all the people?" Rock looked around the village but not a soul was in sight.

"It's a dirt poor village. This place has been under martial law for a few years and the police and guerillas shoot at each other pretty much every day so they likely left for real cities long ago." Revy was right since nobody lived in this place anymore but Knuckle knew different and had Bane out and ready since they got there and the moment he heard an approaching vehicle he spun around and pointed it at the oncoming vehicle until it stopped in front of them. "So you're our getaway driver huh? Where's your partner.

"He's running around trying to find a place to piss. Anyway the password is: The Triad Are Super Cool. I thought it was pretty stupid but then again Chang's taste in jokes is pretty bad." Knuckle then aimed Bane at his head.

"Too bad for you…I don't know how you heard that password but it was a fake! Get ready to die!" Knuckle fired but he dodged then pulled out a pistol which Revy and Knuckle had to dodge the shots and he reversed into Rock's path and a guerilla jumped out of the back seat, knocked him out and tossed him into the car but couldn't get in before Knuckle sniped his brains out and the man drove off with Rock.

"Rock! Damn it!" Suddenly 3 jeeps with tons of guys on them came from around corners and started shooting and Revy ran but Knuckle stood still and fired a grenade in between two of them and they both blew up and Knuckle loaded the last one's driver full of lead and he did the same to the passengers but Revy was already gone.

"Guess she decided to run and be smart for once…well guess I'll have to charge into the guerilla camp and slaughter the lot of them before she does." Knuckle went up to the last jeep and started it up. "Uh…I never did finish driver's ED…eh whatever."

Knuckle reversed the jeep into a building and then drove out of the building into another building and then finally got the hang of it and drove in the direction that Masahiro drove off in and he kept the pedal to the metal.

"Woo!" Knuckle drove straight down the winding road at full speed like a street racer and even did drift turns. "Whoever said shows like Initial D aren't educational can kiss my ass!" Knuckle did this until he came up on the guerilla camp. "FUCK!"

He crashed into the gate and flew out of the jeep as it blew up and he froze time so that Moon could take a picture to preserve the epicness and then he let time flow normally and he flew thorough the air, grabbed Bane and rolled to a stop and had it aimed at the group of guerillas.

"Whoa…I am so high on adrenaline right now! I think I'll pass out inconveniently…or not!" Knuckle then passed out inconveniently causing all the guerilla and Rock to have WTF faces but then he suddenly got up and ran away as the guerillas shot at him only to miss and he escaped into the jungle and they didn't follow. "Man…I'll wait until I'm fully prepared for this shit."

Knuckle sat in a tree overlooking the camp and was scoping everything out. "I'll wait for nightfall…it's not too long off." Soon the sun set and Knuckle sniped all the guards from the darkness then got down, rushed into the camp, slaughtered them all and blew up their vehicles too, then he killed Ibraha and kicked down the door to the cabin Rock was in.

"Hey Rocky let's get out of this dump before more of these losers show up…oh wait I killed them all…never mind lets take our time." Knuckle stepped back outside and aimed Bane with one hand to his side and shot a guerilla. "Whoops looks like I missed one. Little scarafaggi."

Rock was walking behind him worried. "Um Knuckle do you know where the papers that were in a briefcase are?" Knuckle paused and turned around with a pissed off look on his face.

"Ho pensato che aveva le carte nella valigetta! Beh questo è solo grande ho sprecato tutto questo sforzo solo per risparmiare, senza le carte! Ora tutto questo tempo e fatica non saranno ricompensati!" Knuckle shouted in rich Italian so Rock knew he was angry.

"Look I'm sorry but it wasn't in the briefcase when they kidnapped me! So if you don't have it…then maybe Revy does?" Knuckle sighed and reloaded Bane when Revy and Shenhua ran up. "Hey guys Knuckle saved me!" They looked all around to see the massacre. "He says he killed them all but he might have missed a few."

"Then let's get the hell out of here!" They ran to Leigharch's SUV and he hilariously drove them as high as he was to the CIA base where Revy revealed she had the papers stored in her cleavage and the job was completed successfully.

(Lagoon Company Apartments)

Ever since the incident with Mr. Chang Roanapur has been roaring with activity like a wildfire especially with the mysterious string of murders aimed at Hotel Moscow. "Hey Revy…don't you just love Roanapur right now?"

Knuckle was twirling one of the Twins in his right hand as his left eye twitched. Knuckle's mental stability had been decreasing ever since Roberta promised they'd fight again and since then he's only been disappointed in his prey; something that the rest of the group had become increasingly worried about as he was getting just as trigger-happy as Revy before Rock joined the crew.

"Yeah…it's great alright. Everybody is on edge and ready to pull a gun on one another and a full scale war could happen…its perfect!" Revy was naturally like that so she helped keep him in check but recently Knuckle had been disappearing in the middle of the night too….

"Well whatever…I'm going to Rowan's to relax." Knuckle left; he'd taken a liking to Rowan and his club but not for the ladies but to hang out with Rowan and smoke weed since it calmed him down.

"I'm worried…should we call Roberta? I mean ever since then he's been getting worse…." Rock was flustered at how quickly people could change since Knuckle used to be a somewhat calm person.

"No we have no way to contact her so we'd have to ask Balalaika to do it and I don't feel like owing her again." Dutch was worried too since unlike Revy Knuckle was a man; a BIG man and he was too strong for Dutch to hold which Knuckle proved when they first met.

"Regardless this situation has got everyone on edge…wait…you don't think Knuckle-?"

"Don't even say it Benny! Knuckle may be unstable right now but he hasn't gone over the edge yet thanks to Rowan and his drugs." The phone rang and Benny answered it.

"It's for you Rock. It's Ms. Balalaika."

(GoofFest: Rowan's Private Booth)

Knuckle was at Rowan's club smoking with Rowan as his ladies cuddled them which Knuckle didn't mind. "Ah Rowan…your club's great man."

"I know I know man you've told me a thousand times…thanks man."

"No…no I'm serious man…if it wasn't for you and your weed I think I might have gone off the deep end already…without Roberta to fight and nothing but disappointments I've gotten so bloodthirsty…I've taken to murdering random people at night."

"Whoa man…that…that sounds like you've already gone off the deep end…wait…are you the one whose been-?"

"Naw…naw man I ain't that stupid." Rowan and Knuckle laughed until thugs from Hotel Moscow came in and Rowan cowered like a chicken.

"Rowan "Jackpot" Pigeon. We need your help. You're coming with us." They looked at Knuckle and recognized him. "And you Nicholas "Gun God" Flora come with us too since Ms. Balalaika wants to talk to you." Knuckle didn't complain and Rowan was calmer with him there and then they got to the Hotel and were taken to the penthouse where Balalaika was waiting behind her desk.

"Ah gentlemen from a gentleman's club how ironic. Anyway straight to business. Rowan I need all your Romanian porn focused on child and snuff porn." Rowan immediately complied and handed her the list and he was free to go. "Now then…Gun God I hear from Dutch that you've been growing increasingly edgy and trigger-happy to the point of becoming a danger to your company…so I have a proposition."

The weed had worn off on the ride over and Balalaika could clearly see the incessant twitching of his left eye, lip and nose and his twitching hands.

"Yes…I want to kill something worthy…ever since the Bloodhound defeated me no prey has been worthy! Pirates, woman, children, scores of guerrilla soldiers, innocent men walking down a street at night none of it pleases me or gives me the rush that fighting someone so strong did! I'm losing my mind! I feel like nothing's worth the effort…if I don't fix this…I'll turn into something like the monsters that're doing this to your men!"

Balalaika nodded. "You're pretty damned obsessed. There's only 3 ways this can turn out for you. 1: you continue on this self destructive path and become a monster that exists solely to kill until you are killed yourself. 2: I get into contact with Roberta and arrange a rematch between you. Or 3: you help me kill a prey that's very similar to Roberta and it satisfies your hunger."

Knuckle thought about it and decided the one that would go the fastest. "I…choose 3."

"Don't think you'll be indebted to me Gun God since this will be a mutually beneficial agreement between us. I've already informed the Lagoon Company that you'll be working for me for a while. Simply come with me. Eventually your new prey will be at your feet."

Knuckle practically single-mindedly followed Balalaika around like an obedient dog for hours and he waited sleeplessly with her at a fountain. "It's coming soon. Don't worry." Knuckle was breathing heavily.

"I smell it…he has the same smell as that woman!" After a while the sun rose and Knuckle felt him. He took out his Deagle which he had modified to have a knuckle bracing blade run from the front of the hilt down the barrel and extend. Balalaika looked at it in wonder since the blade was cruelly shaped and was wickedly sharp. "Come out! I smell you! Just like you smell me!" Hansel came out from behind a tree with his ax already drawn.

"Yes…we're the same you and I! We have the same scent…the need to kill." Hansel walked forward slowly and stopped.

"Yes…indeed…it will make the feeling when one of us kills the other…so much greater!" Knuckle charged and Hansel swung his ax and their blades clashed.

They began an epic duel which Balalaika and her snipers watched with pleasure at the display as they went at each other like wild animals and eventually Knuckle sliced off Hansel's left hand which held his ax and then shot off his other hand then both feet and let the child bleed out to death as Knuckle felt his psychotic desire leave him.

"Thank you…for helping me…poor child." Knuckle then put away his Deagle and picked up Hansel's ax before sitting next to Balalaika. "That could have ended so much quicker if you used your snipers…but…thanks…."

"No need. We both got what we wanted and needed…now then…as for the other one…." Knuckle fell asleep against Balalaika's shoulder to her surprise and she smiled and waited for Boris and a few thugs to come up. "He's done his part…put him in the backseat of another car to rest."

Boris dragged Knuckle to a black sedan and laid him across the backseat. "We're taking him with us to the Hotel. We can't exactly leave the Gun God alone since a lot of people would love his skills." They drove back to the Hotel and Boris' men put him in the lobby to sleep and after few hours he woke up and a thug came over.

"Hey it's been about 5 hours…you should probably sleep more but you should go back to your place." Knuckle nodded and stumbled out the door. "Ugh…Ms. Balalaika did say to say that but is it really wise to let such an asset go back to the Lagoon Company?"

(Lagoon Company Apartments)

It had almost been a year since Knuckle came to this world and joined the Lagoon Company; same for Rock and it was unbearably hot and the AC in just about every single fucking building in Roanapur was broken so he was forced to strip down to his boxers as he sat alone on the couch. "Ugh…it's so hot…Florida's got nothing on this…."

"Whew…you can say that again." Benny agreed with Knuckle since Benny's from Florida.

Revy exited her room. "Oh man…it's so hot! Hey Knuckle want to come with me to the Rip-Off Church?" Knuckle got up and put on his clothes which honestly weren't hot at all despite their looks.

"Yeah…just let me grab Bane…I don't feel comfortable without him." Knuckle picked up Bane and slung him over his shoulder and walked out with Revy.

"Hey Dutch…don't you think Knuckle and Revy get along too well?" Benny was doing important work on the computer while Rock was crunching numbers and Dutch was sprawled out on the second couch.

"Yeah…but what does it matter? They work well because they get along." Dutch poured a little of his water on his face. "Damn…even the water from the fridge is hot…."

(Church of Violence)

Eda, Knuckle and Revy were all at the alter in the chapel drinking rum. "Hey Knuckle when we first went drinking you said you were resistant!" Revy was giggling a bit but Knuckle was practically shitfaced.

"Hey shut up face…I'm just tired from the heat…I can normally drink the asses off of other folks…it's just that…that there's nothing else good to drink in this shithole of a city."

Eda and Revy both laughed and Eda started bugging Revy about her feelings for Rock which Knuckle didn't find offensive since it was girl talk and he ignored it until someone knocked on the chapel door and both Revy and Eda said they didn't want to get it so Knuckle got up and opened the door so abruptly it knocked the poor girl onto her back. "Hey who the hell're you? It isn't Sunday; come back for mass then you little shit."

"Hey isn't this a church! There isn't anyone else in this city I can trust so I thought a church would-!"

"Hey signorina. Questa non è una chiesa che sarà solo e aiutare una persona a caso dalla strada! Se state pensando di santuario è meglio avere qualche gravi cassa." The young woman was a little shocked but focused enough to understand before several cars pulled up and one of them shot at Knuckle which put a hole through the door which instantly sobered Knuckle up and he drew Hash.

"Bastardi! Il giorno del calibro di voi riesce a sparare me è l'inferno giorni gela!" Knuckle then let loose a spray of bullets across the cars and killed a few guys before Eda, Revy and Rico all came up and started shooting at them too but it wasn't until Sister Yolanda with a beautiful golden Desert Eagle with special engravings shot and blew up one of the cars with one bullet that the fools ran and Knuckle immediately went over to admire Sister Yolanda's gun. "Mio Dio! Suor Yolanda questa pistola è veramente bella! Dove l'hai preso?"

"You already have an excellent Deagle if I remember correctly right Nicholas? So you don't need to be gawking at my hardware." Sister Yolanda then walked up to the door and looked at the bullet hole. "So then…who's paying for the repair fees and the bullets we just used? Care to enlighten us little girl?"

The girl's name was Jane apparently and she was supposedly a master counterfeiter and she was working for a Cartel but they had no taste and no patience for her to make perfect bills and said what she had was fine but she refused and she started to go on and on but Knuckle got up and put Deagle to her head with the blade just grazing her scalp.

"Caro Dio solo andare avanti con lui già alla cagna fastidioso! Diteci che cosa è successo in termini semplici!" She shivered in fear but understood what he was saying.

"Well…here take these two bills. One is real the other is counterfeit." Knuckle holstered Deagle in his coat and looked at them and quickly spotted the fake one.

"This one, no Federal Reserve starts with an M." He handed them back to Jane's amazement who was also surprised since she thought he only spoke Italian. "But still I and Revy are in a company that specializes in delivery and getaways. If you can make it worth our while I'm sure our boss Dutch wouldn't mind taking on the job."

"And our church wouldn't mind recommending you to a little shipment that could be displaced someplace if you hand over those plates." Jane didn't like either option since both were shady.

"Well…I don't have many real bills on me and I don't feel comfortable giving something that's still incomplete." Then Knuckle sat back down in front of Rico and Eda groaned.

"Then there's nothing we can do for you little lost lamb. Shoo get going but leave a donation at the door." Eda then gave her the name of a motel she could stay at in exchange for the donation. "Well then that's been settled! Come on Knuckle! Revy! We're going drinking at the Yellow Flag!"

They all went to the Yellow Flag and Knuckle was drinking Heineken as Eda was blathering on about a plan and then she and Revy got up to leave. "Hey Knuckle you coming?"

"Naw…I've got plenty of cash to buy my own booze…you go on and enjoy your little scam."

Knuckle kept drinking his Heineken as Russell came in and started talking to Shenhua and a bunch of thugs and everyone was listening including Knuckle who ordered another Heineken on the rocks and then he overheard Shenhua shout Sawyer the Cleaner. 'Oh yeah…I think I've brought her several bodies before.'

"There're 3 new faces in this crowd…those two over there…drinking milk." Sawyer pointed out two people drinking milk instead of booze and they were Rotton the Wizard and Claude Torchweaver. "And him…at the bar alone…I've seen him before but never around our crowd on nights like this."

Knuckle spun around shocking everyone. "Gun God Knuckle of the Lagoon Company! What're you doing here!"

Knuckle took a long chug from his tankard. "Ah! Refreshing…what does it look like? I'm getting stone drunk on a hot night! Just like the rest of you…so what's going on?"

"Oh Knuckle! Have not seen you in long time! Not since you slaughter entire base of guerillas out of boredom." Knuckle drank long and hard from his tankard until it was empty again.

"Ah yeah…those small fries were hardly worth the effort…I mean what a let down; the drive there was fun what with it being like a street race only I was by myself…and I crashed into the gate and flew out of the jeep just as it blew! I wish I had a picture of that it would be…wait I think one of the guerrilla took a picture since he was young and stupid…here it is!"

Knuckle pulled the picture Moon took from a pocket and everyone got in close and laughed at how hilarious Knuckle looked flying out of an exploding jeep. "All the guerrilla were so shocked they all stood still long enough for me to find cover!"

"Anyway Knuckle; that whore Revy told me you use many weapons but I only ever see you with rifle on back." Knuckle nodded and laid out his arsenal including hand grenades on the bar counter and everyone was in awe.

"Wow Knuckle like one man army! Ok you two; what your weapons?" Rotton showed his SMG and Claude used his torch lighter. "Ok now that we know everyone's weapons we go now!" Everyone left telling Russell to get the tab but Knuckle called out to him from the bar.

"Hey don't worry cowboy I'm not a gun for hire…at least not under these situations. I'll cover those slob's tabs don't worry." Russell ran out after them and Knuckle reached into a pocket and pulled out a handful of gold coins and slammed them onto the bar.

"Here you go Bao for all the shit the Lagoon Company puts you through and the tabs of those slobs who just left…and mine."

Knuckle turned and left for the boat on his hog despite being buzzed and when he got there Knuckle locked down his ride a building over and he went to the dock to find the Lagoon gone.

"Oh right…Dutch and Benny had business to do…well shit…oh well I might as well go to our second home." Knuckle walked up the stairs to the office to lay down on the center couch and pretty soon Rock, Revy and Eda escorting Jane entered and Eda sat on Knuckle's crotch. "Hey…Eda you do realize where you're sitting right?"

"Of course I do. Why else would I sit here?" She wriggled against his crotch and he grunted in surprise before he pushed her off and sat up straight. "Oh my well isn't someone surprisingly shy?"

"Shut up greedy nun! If you didn't work for the Church of Violence I would have done so much worse to you." Eda laughed and continued to sexually harass Knuckle by pressing up against him for a while until he got up and took out Bane.

"Look we're about to have company…and I'd rather avoid having to pay for all the damages." Knuckle opened the door to the surprise of the thugs climbing up and he put a bullet in both thugs and shot the 3rd guy's minigun at the rotator to jam it. "Sorry but I'll be wanting that gun for later!"

Knuckle then shot him in the head and proceeded to snipe all the thugs with a single bullet each without missing but had to take cover as the guys on the adjacent roofs started their barrage and Knuckle ran to a crate. "Damn…I didn't want to use her so soon but!"

Knuckle opened the crate and took out his personally modified Milkor MGL 6-shot semiautomatic 40mm "Harken" grenade launcher that was completely made of black carbonized steel and had quickloading capacity and rushed to the front door.

"Out of the way!" Eda and Revy got away from the door and Knuckle then quickly launched 6 grenades onto the roof the thugs were on and killed them all. "Damn! That's 6 grenades I'll have to pay for!"

Knuckle slung it on his back next to Bane and he turned around in time to see Sawyer cut through the back door with her extra long chainsaw and Knuckle ran up to her and took out his Deagle.

"Sawyer! You're a Cleaner not a Hunter! This line of work will only kill you!" Sawyer's cold eyes didn't change but she turned off her chainsaw and left. "Oh thank god…didn't want the city's best Cleaner to die." Suddenly a rotund man with a flamethrower came though the warehouse door and lit Knuckle on fire which startled everyone.

"Do you like grill parties?" Knuckle put a bullet in his head and he dropped.

"Yes actually." Knuckle spun around and the fire disappeared from his black Kevlar. "But man that's hot! I've actually got some burns…." Rock opened up a hidden staircase.

"Everyone get to higher ground!" Jane went first and Rock second then Knuckle was about to go up since he was starting to get tired but he decided he was too tired and stayed down.

"Hey…you two…get up the stairs…I need a little rest." They were both going to tell him that they were about to get sprayed when Knuckle held up a hand. "I know what's going on…just trust me I've never failed yet." They nodded reluctantly and went up the stairs. "Hey Shenhua! I know you're out there! How's Leigarch!"

"Oh Leigarch? He fine! He smoking weed now instead of snorting coke so he can get to Mars as much as he want without being stuck there!" Knuckle laughed.

"I know how that's like…so Shenhua…." Knuckle tightened the straps of Bane and Harken and took out Hansel (named after its previous owner) from under his trenchcoat with his left hand and had Deagle in his right. "Instead of just shooting at you…I feel like killing you with my blades to solidify the definition of irony!"

Shenhua's kukri flew through the window and swept in an arc across the room because of the chord but Knuckle blocked the blade with Deagle's blade and Shenhua then jumped through the window to strike with her other kukri only for Knuckle to block with Hansel and aimed at her and shot but barely missed and they separated.

"You no joke! Honestly you seem better than that whore with fat ass Revy. Well hope to see you later if you not die!" Shenhua jumped back out the window and Knuckle turned around and jumped up the stairs just as the thugs started spraying the whole place and he shoved a heavy crate full of broken guns over the entrance.

"Damn…I was gonna make some killer shit with these…oh well." Knuckle then rushed across the room as bullets started to make Swiss cheese of the solid wood floor and he made it to the ladder to the roof and jumped partway up and hooked on with Hansel and started to rush up the ladder when he was shot in the back several times.

"Gah fuck!" Although the Kevlar and Knuckle's mail shirt stopped them it was like getting punched really fucking hard several times and he got up top.

"Knuckle these bastards are tearing us apart! You've got the ordinance to take them out so do it!" Knuckle took off Harken, reloaded it and tossed it to Revy.

"You use that one I've got Bane!" Knuckle aimed at a car with a ton of thugs behind it and he shot the gas tank instead of wasting a nade and then fired a nade at a group of thugs on another roof. "Ha, ha, ha! We may be burning through our wages like kids with candy but this is fun!"

Suddenly someone loaded Knuckle with an entire clip from an SMG and Knuckle fell down dripping blood from various places including some cuts to his face to everyone's disbelief. "Fuck…how…my Kevlar…."

Rotton the Wizard suddenly appeared and reloaded his SMG. "Kevlar coupled with a mail shirt. You sir are indeed a good wizard but you need to be more prepared than that and actually wear a bulletproof vest." Revy shot him in the chest and Rotton disappeared. "Sorry but I did what I wanted, I won't be staying."

Knuckle was out of commission and was stuck lying on the roof with Rock trying to treat him by pulling the bullets that made it through his Kevlar and mail out of his back and left side as Eda instructed. "Ah shit! The last time I was injured this badly was by Zelgius!"

"I can't believe this happened! You're lucky enough that they barely breached the skin!" Rock pulled them out quickly and then had to let Knuckle stay facedown so he wouldn't bleed-out. "When are Dutch and Benny going to get here!" Right on cue a horn sounded and they looked to see the Black Lagoon rushing into the bay.

"About damn time!" Revy shot the last group of thugs and tossed Harken to rock with it empty. "Rock you carry the stiff we've gotta go!"

"Damn you Revy I'm not dead! I just need some bandages!" Revy ignored him as Rock and Jane helped Knuckle up and they got to the fire escape and rushed down as fast as possible and when they got to the Lagoon Dutch and Benny were both standing calmly on the dock since the Hunters had left already.

"Damn…look at all the damage those assholes did…this better be worth it." Dutch saw Knuckle's pained expression and was also surprised to see Rock holding a weapon for once but it was slung over a shoulder. "Anyway there'll likely be pursuers out at sea too and since Knuckle's out of commission for a bit Rock you get to man the turret.

"What! Dutch Rock doesn't even have the nerve to fire that turret! Let Eda do it!" Eda smiled and got on the Lagoon got in the turret and turned it on.

"Fine then. Rock and the lady carry the stiff into the infirmary and try to patch him up." Knuckle growled since both Revy and Dutch considered Knuckle useless in his condition.

"Damn it…not my fault some wizard asshole with an SMG took me by surprise while I was nading the guys spraying the warehouse." They all hurried onto the Black Lagoon and when inside Rock hurried them to the infirmary where Knuckle removed his trenchcoat, mail and undershirt and Jane gasped at the huge scars that Knuckle obtained from Zelgius.

"Oh right you're still an average Jane Doe in these parts. I fought against someone who was stronger than me…twice. And he sent me packing like an amateur…twice."

Rock never heard the story behind his scars but the first time the group saw them they all stared for a while. "So why did you fight him the second time when you knew he was stronger than you?" Rock had already put tape bandages over the wounds and was starting to wrap some bandages to hold them.

"Because…well I'm not sure but I couldn't stand the thought of him defeating me so easily…I stood a better chance the second time and I gave him some good hits but he still got the better of me…but I'll never be able to see if I'm better than him or not because he was killed by a friend of mine later…but I couldn't very well kill my friend so I have to find another person to beat." Rock then realized why Knuckle was so fixated on Roberta.

"Roberta right? You think she's stronger than you so you want to defeat her." Jane raised an eyebrow and Rock smiled. "She's a maid…she's like a Terminator. Almost completely unstoppable in my view. Knuckle fought with her and she knocked him out using cheap tricks and by the time he fully regained consciousness he had already been hit by an explosion, her, a car and fell out of a flying car into a busy street."

Jane looked at Knuckle in wonder as he put his equipment back on. "Yet I still had the energy to run after you guys and scream at you all in rich Spanish." Knuckle then walked out of the infirmary but first he grabbed a syringe filled with basically liquid aspirin and injected it into his arm to kill the pain the wounds were causing instantly. "Woo boy! Feel numb already…." Knuckle stumbled out and down the hall.

"Does…he have a drug problem?" Rock laughed nervously.

"Only for pain killers…to kill pain and marijuana of course." They walked into the driver area to find Knuckle sprawled out on the floor behind Dutch's seat.

"He got into the pain killers again didn't he?" Rock grunted as in yes and Dutch grunted. "Put the drugged fool in his bed he's done enough from what Revy's told me."

(Roanapur Airport)

It had officially been a whole year since Knuckle came to this world and it was new years but…Hotel Moscow had specifically hired Rock as a translator since they were going to Tokyo on business and Revy demanded to go and not only was Revy persistent but Balalaika had apparently hired Knuckle too as an extra gun and here he was at the bottom of the stairs leading up to an airplane and Knuckle was holding on the railing for dear life.

"Never again! The last time I was on a fucking plane I had to jump because it was crashing! These things aren't reliable!" Boris then stabbed Knuckle with a tranquilizer dart and he passed out.

"Geez…we should have done that in the first place." After a peaceful flight to Tokyo with Knuckle being asleep he woke up as they arrived..

"Ugh…man…I hate coming out of a tranq…I've got a massive headache." Knuckle took out a bottle of Excedrin and took one. "Headache medicine is always good to carry…especially if it numbs oncoming pain too."

Knuckle was calm since they were on the ground and after a while they all filed into taxis right away where Knuckle was forced to relinquish all his weapons aside from Deagle, Hash, Twins and Hansel.

"They better get back to me or I'll slit your throat!" They went to their destination as the other thugs got things ready and after a bit they got to the club and Revy and Knuckle stood behind Balalaika while Rock translated and when the bomb went off right when the two thugs stood in defiance Knuckle quickdrew Twins and got both of their guns instantly causing the boss to raise an eyebrow as Knuckle put them away and then spoke in Japanese to everyone's surprise.

"Listen idiots. Hotel Moscow doesn't take any shit so if you weren't expecting complete domination of your enemies then you called the wrong group." Balalaika laughed and the meeting continued and when it was over they parted ways for now.

"Knuckle I didn't know you could speak Japanese!" Rock was impressed since he already knew Knuckle knew English and was fluent in Spanish and Italian.

"Well when you're dragged everywhere like a fucking slave and forced to learn a new language every time you're forced to make base in a new country you pick up a few things." Knuckle sounded irritated so Rock let it go since they were at a small festival and he didn't want to ruin Revy's good mood which seemed to happen slightly since Knuckle just let on he had a troubled past like her.

Everything went smoothly for a while and Knuckle decided to keep a distance and then Revy started causing trouble…. "Hey…could you leave your aggression aside? This is supposed to be a happy time."

Knuckle's abilities made it so that whenever he entered a world it was like he somewhat already existed in it…this one more so than others and he "remembered" this man and stepped out of the shadows to stand before him and his eyes widened as Knuckle got a sadistic look on his face. "It's been a long time…Ginji-san."

"N-Nicholas-dono! What are you doing here! Are you here to cause more trouble?" Revy and Rock looked at him with worried and confused faces.

"Oh that depends…how has it been going for you huh? I see you're wearing that trenchcoat as usual…not hiding anything are you?" Ginji's face grew tense and his fists tightened but he bit his cheek to help control himself.

"As you can see I've been heavily inspired by your style Ginji-san! And I too have a lot to hide…." Knuckle was getting excited and Ginji was edging slowly forward but then the girl behind him ran between them and Knuckle's face grew soft.

"Um…sweet rice rum? It's cold and standing out here isn't very wise so…." Knuckle got a flashback into a memory that wasn't really his and he recognized her right away.

"…Uh…s-sure young lady I'd love to…have some sake." She smiled and all of Knuckle's avarice melted away so Ginji relaxed.

"Well come on then let's go!" She grabbed Knuckle's left hand and pulled him along and he was helpless before her.

"Ah! Wait I can walk on my own!" She continued to pull him along until they reached the sake vendor and Knuckle ordered some sweet sake and drank it. "Ah…so soothing…."

Ginji sat next to him as the girl spoke to Rock and Revy. "Nicholas…what brings you back here…after what you did…."

"I'm here on business…nothing more Ginji-san. I've already been paid so I can't turn down the job…so…is she-?"

"Yes…Master Washimine's daughter…so you remember her after 9 years huh?" Ginji drank from his cup and Knuckle copied.

"Yeah…she's grown so much…and yet…the fate that awaits her…." Ginji sighed.

"I know…but it's unavoidable…she's the only heir left…but as long as the Kousa exist-."

"Speaking of which…pretty soon Gin-san there won't be a Kousa to worry about." Knuckle got up and walked away as Ginji looked at him in worry.

(Washimine Nightclub)

The next day in one of Washimine group's clubs Balalaika explained their plans to Mr. Bando the one who was currently controlling the Washimine group and after he objected to her plan to eliminate the Kousa leaders Knuckle laughed loudly at his statement and spoke in Japanese again.

"Idiot! You call yourself a leader? Didn't I say before that if you didn't want the enemy completely annihilated then you contacted the wrong people! Ryuzo-sama wouldn't have made such a mistake!"

Bando and everyone in the Washimine group jumped to their feet at Knuckle's mention of the former boss, Rock was even further surprised and Hotel Moscow although not understanding understood that he just said something shocking. "W-who are you! How do you know the late Ryuzo-sama!"

"I've worked for the Washimine group before…back then when the Kousa were tightening the noose I was at Ryuzo-sama's deathbed." Knuckle had his face stone cold with not emotion but his clenched fists said differently. "Ryuzo would have run contingencies instead but you called the devil and if you don't follow through you'll only doom the Washimine group to death!" Bando then recognized Knuckle.

"I-impossible! Nicholas-dono! Ginji-dono told us you killed Ryuzo-sama in cold blood!" Knuckle shook his head.

"That was just a misunderstanding…he saw me running from the scene and I guess he assumed the worst…please Bando-san let Balalaika operate as she sees fit…don't worry…I'll resort to desperate measures if she tries anything outside of the deal to get rid of Kousa." Rock gasped and looked away but Balalaika already realized something was up.

Bando sat down and relaxed; he then told Rock to translate and said that he would let Balalaika do as she saw fit but asked her not to endanger the Washimine group directly and she agreed. "Don't worry Bando-san…I'll stir up so much shit that I'll draw their attention away from all this business…." Knuckle then got an extremely sadistic look on his face which Bando recognized and he nodded with an equally sadistic smile.

"Be careful Nicholas-dono…whenever you get that look on your face you're bound to do something outrageous." The talks went smoothly and on the way out Knuckle got beside Balalaika.

"Balalaika…do you have my weapons still?" Balalaika wasn't going to fully trust Knuckle right now so she had to ask.

"Yes…why?" Knuckle's psychotic face told her all she needed to know. "Very well…have a party." She had a thug guide him to the storage shed they were keeping his weapons and he quickly put them on after the thug was gone.

"Time for a distraction!" Knuckle magically stored Bane and Harken so that they couldn't be seen and he ran towards the nearest train station as fast as he could and managed to arrive moments before the train left. "Here!" He slid his train pass through the turnstile card reader as he jumped over it and got on. "Whew made it!"

He rode patiently until the stop at the Tokyo Tower. "Let's have an early fireworks demonstration…." He walked into an apartment building and walked straight up to the roof but the door to the roof was locked. "Typical." He kicked it down and then took out Harken. "Happy New Year!"

He fired repeatedly into the air and actual fireworks lit up the sky. "Got to get the public's attention." He continued to fire fireworks until he heard the police storming up the stairs behind him. "Gotta go!" He stored Harken and ran and jumped across an alley to the next building and started showing brilliant skill with Parkour as he evaded police for hours while Hotel Moscow butchered the entire Kousa group.

After about 7 hours of continuous running and without tiring thanks to magic his cellphone rang and he answered. "Nicholas this is Balalaika. You've done well to keep them occupied but we're finished now; get out of there and return to the ship without being noticed."

"Got it!" He hung up and was about to jump to another building but there were cops on it.

"Freeze! Get down!" He smiled and jumped off into the alley below and disappeared. "Where'd he go!"

"After him!" They all ran back down the building but he had already warped to the ship.

"Works every time."

(Ginji's House)

Everything went smoothly and the Washimine group promised, pledged and assured that under Yakuza pride they would act as liaisons for Hotel Moscow and everything was held in place. Before he left though Knuckle decided to have a drink with Gin. "So yeah I basically saved you and the whole family…not bad huh?"

"Tch you're still an asshole to me Nicholas! But thanks to you I was able to keep Yukio-sama in the world of light…safe from our world of darkness…thank you." They both drank hot sake and reminisced about the old days which because of Knuckle's god status pretty much actually happened and then they got down to arm wrestling, jokes and even comparing weapons.

"This ax is beautiful! It serves the simple yet elegant purpose of killing mercilessly but in exchange it doesn't have any defensive power aside from countering."

"Thanks. I took it off the corpse of someone very much like us…he was a young boy…much younger than Yukio still and he was already a monster. I dueled him fairly and won so I took his ax. This weapon has claimed many lives in cold blood…it doesn't hesitate to end a person's life."

Knuckle got up and turned to leave. "Bye Gin…hopefully someday we can get together and drink like this again but I don't think I'll be able to come to Japan ever again unless under escort from Hotel Moscow again."

"Yeah see you. Don't get killed asshole!" Knuckle laughed as he stepped outside and got into the car with Balalaika.

"Are you sure you want to come back with me and not Rock and Revy?" Balalaika handed him a glass of Jack Daniels but he grabbed the bottle instead and chugged from it.

"Of course, I hate flying so much I'd rather be castrated then to ever get on one of those deathtraps ever again." He continued to drink the bottle.

"Hmph…well at least I know you have some sort of criminal background before suddenly appearing in Roanapur. Although I would have preferred to wipe them all out getting the Washimine to do our work for us is also beneficial."

Knuckle finished off the bottle to Balalaika's impress and then put it down in the bucket. "Well it was either get that off my conscience or let my old friends die…I chose the conscience and well…I'm going to have to have a good talk to Rock when I get back…I think it's about time he left the twilight and entered the darkness…."

Knuckle had a pleasant trip with Balalaika and when he got to Roanapur he went straight to the Lagoon and sat in his turret…by then Rock should have gotten a letter and minutes later Rock was on the Lagoon too.

"Hey…Knuckle what was it that you wanted to see me about?" Knuckle got up and walked up to Rock, put his palm on Rock's forehead and spread his fingers and gripped. "W-what're you doing!"

Knuckle forced information into Rock's head on how situations would have turned out without him up until now and then showed him some of his personal suffering and imprinted a mastery of swordsmanship into his mind and he forced Rock's body constitution to improve enough to be at the level his mind perceived himself to be and then Knuckle let him go and he stumbled and collapsed.

"What…did you just do…all these things…they never happened because you were around! And some of that otherworldly stuff…was that…from you?"

Knuckle kneeled down to be face level with Rock. "Listen…what you saw are things that would have happened and did happen. I am by all means a god I suppose…I as far as I can understand can not die but I can experience pain. I'm telling you all this because I see you as a worthy mortal to improve; for better or worse."

Knuckle got up and held out a hand and Rock took it. "Listen…tell no one or else I will be forced to leave this world…I don't want to leave yet; I still have maybe 1 or more years until I need to leave."

"Yes…I understand your intentions and what you are. But regardless you're my friend…you're still only human." Knuckle magically created a black Dark Matter katana with a black wood hilt and matching wood sheathe and gave it to Rock.

"That's exactly what I told my first real friends after I became what I am, when I put so much faith into them that I couldn't stay any longer." Knuckle started to walk back and Rock followed.

(Lagoon Company Apartments)

It was boring…the company hadn't been getting jobs lately and Rock told the others that Knuckle had been training him in secret and gave him his new weapon. "Still Rock…I can't believe you actually have the guts to come to the dark side now."

"I've been in the twilight too long; I've already told you this many times." Knuckle was at the Yellow Flag drinking his days away in boredom and the rest of the company was stuck in their offices bored to tears themselves. "So let me guess…Knuckle's at the Yellow Flag again?"

"Yep so don't bother trying to see him he'll be too shit-faced to get any good words out." Benny was sad that he was the only guy without fighting ability again since according to Revy he can fight equally with her and even slice incoming bullets.

"Regardless he's been doing something to keep a good amount of cash flowing in between all his drinking so I say he's earned the right to be alone." The phone rang again. "Geez this has been going on for hours now." It was about whether they had seen a strange visitor lately again.

"Whatever…you guys can go ahead and do what you want all this talk about a strange visitor has gotten me irritated." Rock and Revy said it might be Roberta so they all decided to investigate so Rock and Revy went to the Yellow Flag to find Knuckle passed out on top of the bar.

"Uh…Bao!" Bao came out from behind the bar.

"Oh it's you guys again. What did you come to drag him home again?" Bao put a rag on top of him as he was cleaning mugs.

"Um no…actually we're here to talk about Roberta." After a short conversation Bao confirmed their suspicions that she was in Roanapur again. "Damn…if Knuckle hears about this he'll get Whitman Fever again."

"I already knew." Knuckle jumped to his feet and startled everyone and sat at the stool next to Revy. "Hey Bao I'll have some Bacardi this time…and none of that watered down shit."

"Coming right up! So how do you know already?" Rock knew why but Knuckle was sly.

"My ears reach far Bao. Far farther than any information broker. I just prefer to keep things to myself…like for instance Gustavo and his gang will come walking in here in about…3, 2, 1." Knuckle pointed at the front door and Gustavo and his goons all walked in and everyone but Rock looked at him amazed.

"It's called intuition. I'm amazed Revy doesn't have it yet considering her skill." Gustavo sat next to Rock and they had an information exchange and it was when they got to telling him her features Knuckle counted in his head.

"5, 4, 3, 2, 1." When he said this Rock and Revy turned to see a mini Roberta. "Bienvenido a faltar la bandera amarilla en la que encontraremos todo tipo de escoria. Por favor, no empezar nada ha sido pacífica últimamente."

"…Thank you for the welcome sir but I'm supposed to escort you and Rock to the Young Master at the Sanwan Hotel." A thug picked up the little maid.

"Um senor I would suggest you put the little lady down." She then did a backwards kick to his crotch. "I warned you." It turned out she had a hidden blade in the back of her heel so she stabbed his balls not kicked and then a huge gunfight ensued but Knuckle just sat at the bar drinking from his bottle of Bacardi and laughing. "Hey little miss! Give them a taste of your grenade launcher!"

She complied and started blowing them apart with her shotgun/grenade launcher and then the .50 Cal mounted on a truck came. "Oh hey some good hardware…but don't use it fool it's mine now!" Knuckle rushed outside and used Hash to quickly kill everyone outside and he unbolted the .50 Cal from the truck kept the tripod mount and then carried it inside.

"Ha, ha, ha! Got a new toy!" Knuckle walked in as Gustavo ran out. "See you later Gustavo! So young lady you said something about little Garcia asking for us?"

"Although I appreciate your sarcastic manners please stop calling me little lady my name is Fabiola Iglesias." Knuckle patted her on the head and handed her briefcase of candy back to her and she blushed embarrassed.

"Well Fabiola you can go ahead and guide Rock and the rest of the company. I have business elsewhere." She was about to protest when he suddenly ran away at top speed.

"...Such a strange man...but I can slightly understand Miss Roberta's approval of him." Knuckle ignored the laws of physics and warped to the Roanapur branch of Hotel Moscow and then walked normally with the .50 Cal resting on his shoulder which the doormen found daunting.

"Hey boys. I'm here to talk to Balalaika about some...serious business." Knuckle was a regular visitor to Balalaika at this point so they let him through and knew he wasn't likely to try anything so they didn't take his weapons and after a quick stair climb (Knuckle hates elevators) he entered Balalaika's office and sat on one of the sofas and let his new .50 Cal sit on the other seat as Balalaika got off the phone with one of Mr. Chang's lackeys. "So let me guess...he's called for a conference of leaders again hasn't he?"

"Yes he's always so adamant about trying to unify us and keep the peace...such a man really shouldn't be in this city." Balalaika got up and Boris helped her put her business jacket on. "Well I assume you came here to tag along right? Why else come here during a time like this?"

"Ha, ha, ha! You're right again Balalaika. I just have something to say to everybody." Balalaika chuckled darkly and they drove to the meeting place which had a No Guns policy just for the meeting and Knuckle had to relinquish all his weapons.

"And I better get them all back! RIGHT!" He intimidated the guards and then went inside but hid in the shadows and after Chang arrived Knuckle appeared. "Ah so good to see people from the home country again."

The Italian Mafia boss who replaced Verrocchio after his death at the hands of Hansel and Gretel known as Ronny the Jaws jumped out of his seat and bowed hastily. "Sir Nicholas! Sono contento di rivederti!"

Knuckle waved it off and Ronny gestured for Knuckle to take his seat and he did so which confused everyone but the Italians and Knuckle picked up the empty wine glass and instantly one of the Italian goons came over and filled it with Nebbiolo red wine.

"Good to finally formally meet you all…I believe it's time to properly introduce myself my dear close friends." Knuckle's presence right this moment was dark, evil and absolutely commanding and both Chang and Balalaika took note of the utter fear and respect he commanded from the Italians.

"My name is Nicholas as you properly understand but my more popular titolo personale as more widely known is…Director of Death Nick." Chang and Balalaika both were shocked and Nick laughed. "Yes that's right! I'm the one who personally slaughtered all the other mafia families in Italy to put the current mob you see before you in power! I just decided to take a holiday after a mishap involving approximately 50 pounds of C2 that was being shipped to the Taiwanese branch here in Roanapur.

"Boss I understand your whims are fully sanctioned by the Don but why for pretty much a whole year?" Ronny quickly shut it at Nick's shifting of his eyes towards him.

"Regardless about Rosarita…I know what's happened in full detail…no need to ask questions. I will take care of everything. I'm talking to you Balalaika." The atmosphere grew excessively intense. "You know me. If you try to get in my way I will personally rip every member of Hotel Moscow a new one and burn this city to the ground and quite possibly do far more to you."

Balalaika got a sadistic face just as frightening as Nick's. "Well don't worry comrade I'll leave Roberta to you. After all I wouldn't want to risk my precious subordinates again would I? Since it's you I know it will be handled properly." Nick got up and walked over to Balalaika and shook hands with her and even hugged, both losing the sadistic expressions.

"I wish you luck Nick but considering it's you I doubt you even need luck." Nick chuckled and he gestured for his goons to follow and when they were gone the air grew less tense but remained serious. "I can't believe that raving psychopath is a top boss in the mafia…still through considering his tactics and skills I'm not surprised."

"Boss!" Outside as they got into the cars after getting their weapons back Ronny ran up to Nick. "Boss…what're your orders?"

They got into the car and began to drive to the Branch HQ. "Simple…follow this detailed script of how we're going to act out this play." Nick took a thick "playbook" out of his coat that in bold crimson letters read: "Sipario finale Manisarela's".

Ronny read through it and sweat profusely. "Boss…we're going to utterly wipe out the Manisarela Cartel?" Nick laughed in response.

"Yes Ronny you need to think big to make it big! Just follow that script and everything will be ok…I'll be seeing to Roberta myself." Ronny nodded as Knuckle stopped the car and got out. "I'll be going to see a certain maid. I'll get back to you if I'm lucky."

(Grey Fox Hideout)

Knuckle leisurely walked down the halls with Roberta, both of them with a psychotically morbid look on their faces as they casually kill anyone they come across. The rest of Roanapur was busy as the Triad and Hotel Moscow sectioned off their parts of the city from the Italian and Columbian with the help of Watsup as the Italians, following Nick's "script" systematically massacred the Columbians. "Rosarita…how is this making you feel?"

Roberta shot someone around a corner with her SPAS-12 with only one hand and proceeded to reload as they continued on. "Much better…especially with those anti-psychotics you gave me…where'd you get them anyway?" They both used their shotguns on a single fool who thought he could drop in on them.

"Personal secret. Anyway once this is over with want to go to dinner?" They came up to an electronically sealed double-door and Nick laced it with C4 and they walked away from it as the timer counted down.

"Maybe, if there's any restaurants open after this." The door blew and they both walked through the now gone doorway. "Or you could just come over to my place."

"Whoa a little fast there don't you think? And isn't your place in South America?" Rosarita smiled honestly and Nick laughed. "Yeah sure…I don't think I'd ever be welcome in Roanapur again after this." They both walked in on Caxton who stood patiently waiting for them.

"So the Bloodhound and the Gun God came together? It makes sense since one sniffs out and the other shoots." Before he could continue Rosarita blasted his head off with her SPAS-12 and they both watched as blood gushed from his headless neck until his corpse collapsed.

"Who sniff's and who shoots?" Roberta put away her shotgun.

"Yeah I sniffed this time and she shot." Knuckle put away Shatter and they both turned to each other and smiled. "Well now that's over…but…." Knuckle turned to see Eda without her glasses and wearing her civilian outfit standing in the doorway with her arms folded over her breasts.

"Well Eda…being CIA yourself…there's two things you can do…report the truth and doom Roanapur…or help us set the charges on this place."

Eda remained totally serious but her eyes softened up and she briskly walked up and slapped him hard and then kissed him…deeply to both Knuckle's and Rosarita's utter confusion even when she released him.

"I didn't know whether to hurt you or kiss you…so I did both. *sigh* No I won't report this…I'll say there was a faulty explosive in the armory or something like that…besides I like this city too much…and don't think I don't know about that MIRV system you have set up."

Rosarita's eyes flared open and she looked incredulously at Knuckle who looked away nervously with an "OH SHIT" look on his face. "Uh…how?"

"How else? I'm with the CIA…just be glad these guys didn't know and I'm the only one who found out and kept it quiet…speaking of which…when did you plan to use them?" Knuckle backed up and sat down as he sweat bullets…it wasn't every day that someone announced they knew you had the ultimate weapon of mass destruction literally in the palm of your hand.

"Uh…on only two possible occurrences…if somehow news got out about this and the USA decided to declare war on Roanapur and two: if they tried anything…don't think I don't know that the USA is the only country left with properly armed Nuclear Warheads. The only other countries with even relatively powerful stuff is South Korea and Russia but they both know how stupid it would be to even think of trying anything with the firepower America would dish out in retaliation."

"So you were going to utterly destroy an entire nation with the click of a button…I'll keep everything under wraps…if you hand over the detonator." Knuckle was pinned…unless she did what he was proposing they were all fucked…if she died they were all fucked…only one way.

"Fine…I may be a psychotic maniac but I don't relish the thought of killing 10s of millions of innocent people myself." Knuckle reached into his coat and pulled out a bulky detonator with heavily secured covers and multiple triggers which would all need to be pressed in a specific order for the signal to transmit. He then handed it to Eda who held the device with both fear and awe.

"This is indeed a mad world…if just this small thing could destroy it all." Eda put it in a lead box and locked it. "Alright then…I'll keep things quiet…and Knuckle?" He looked up and saw she had a gun pointed to his head. "Bang." She pulled the trigger.

(Epilogue)

The gun was empty but the action shocked Knuckle so much he instinctively left his flesh body and it fell to the floor. Thinking he was dead Rosarita was about to kill Eda when Nick got up and calmed her…somehow Knuckle's flesh body still lived even without him in it.

After everything calmed down Nick left the Lagoon Company and the Italian Mafia to live out his days in peace with Rosarita in South America and portrayed an appearance as a loyal butler.

Rosarita having grown fond of Nick married him years later and raised a family with the blessings of a grown Garcia Loveless.

Garcia having faced such trials in his life grew wise and hardened but remained as gentle as Rosarita remembered his father to be.

Rock and Revy got together and were known as Roanapur's true Power Couple with their astounding combat skills and combination of distanced and melee combat they became the lynchpin of Lagoon Company's fighting ability.

Benny eventually married Jane and became infamous for their hacking skills the world over. The CIA eventually had to crack down on them and they disappeared from Roanapur without a trace.

Dutch was as he always was, a wizened man who worked his not so honest business the rest of his life until an accident involving Nick's broken turret smashing into the cabin after a crane hit it. He had to retire his seafaring days and the Lagoon was left in a warehouse owned by Hotel Moscow. He still runs his business but has Rock and Revy doing it for him on the Lagoon II while he manages a growing smuggling empire.

Balalaika and Cheng eventually got over their differences after years of Cheng's insistence and the Triad and Hotel Moscow consistently worked together to keep Roanapur from tearing itself apart again. Being friends with Dutch they helped him foster his growing business and together form the largest smuggling ring in the southeast hemisphere of the world.

Knuckle himself having no knowledge of such events simply returned to the gap believing he was dead again. Knowing him though he'll be over it soon.

(Author's Rant)

And cut! That's a wrap for this section! Gruesome huh? Well guess what? Hellsing's next. So strap on your barf-bags the hellishness must go on!


End file.
